In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia brought the Thirty Years? War to an
end. Although the Europeans didn?t know it, of course, this
devastating conflict would prove to be the last of the Wars of
Religion that had been tearing the continent apart since the start
of the Reformation in 1517. Europe was entering a new age.
Despite the Renaissance, it was still a largely medieval world in
its outlook, infrastructure and government in 1648. Europe was less
wealthy and, in many ways, less economically advanced than other
parts of the world, like Mughal India and China. By 1815, the year
of the Battle of Waterloo, Europe was recognizably modern. It was
also far in advance of the rest of the world economically,
scientifically, technologically, politically and militarily.
So the period between these two dates is the very hinge of European
history. It is no small accomplishment to cover so vast a subject
adequately in a single volume. But Tim Blanning, a professor of
modern historyn
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